It's been a long time. Miss me? Maybe. Maybe not. Probably not important. I have a reason for posting again after a long absence. But first, check this:

Later that night, after parting company with Carla and Lola (who had accepted Carla’s invitation to spend the night at her place), I went back to my hotel and was letting myself into my room when a shadow detached itself from near the fire exit down the hall.

“Sorry I startled you,” Gunnar said after I climbed down from the ceiling. “Got a minute?”

“Sure, mano,” I said. “Come in.” I pushed the door open and Gunnar followed me in. “Drink?” I asked.

Gunnar just shook his head and jerked his thumb back toward the door as he walked over to the curtained windows. I shut the door and turned to see him carefully opening a tiny gap in the curtains to peer down toward the street.

“You’re very secret agent tonight,” I said with a laugh.

Gunnar turned toward me and said, “I heard about what happened.”

“Yeah?” I sat down on the edge of the bed and kicked off my shoes. The tie came off next and tossed it somewhere on the sheets behind me. “What have you heard?”

Gunnar moved over to the small table near the door and leaned back against it, folding his arms. “A sprout was left at the construction site. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, but there are rumors.”

I sighed. “I’ve had a long day, so…”

“Sometimes cats from El Marrow make the scene,” Gunnar said. “Some hear things there about a rogue DOD agent making trouble in Rubacava.” That was interesting. “The stories aren’t very specific,” Gunnar said with a shrug, “other than to say that the Man isn’t very happy. Could be he’s unhappy enough to send the troublemaker a message.”

“Or maybe,” I said, “bad things just happen and **** has to land somewhere.”

Gunnar nodded slowly. “You can’t escape gravity.” He stood away from the table. “Like you said, it’s been a long day and it’s time for me to scat.”

“Thanks for dropping by,” I said as Gunnar went out and shut the door behind him. It wasn’t until he was gone that I realized his gravity remark wasn’t really meant as agreement.

OK, so what's that all about? Put simply, on and off since my last appearance I've been working on a big revision to my Grim Fandango novelization. I was never totally happy with the first version and over time there were parts that began to be somewhat embarrassing. It's taken time (real life, etc.) but I've finally got it into a satisfactory state. That it's more or less the game's 10th anniversary is pretty much a happy coincidence.

Is there any reason for those who have read the original to read the revision? Obviously I'm biassed, but I think there is. It's basically the same book but there isn't a page that doesn't have some kind of change, anything from correcting simple typos to tone to major plot developments. The opening is different, Manny's relationships with the three commies and with Carla are developed in far greater detail, the aftermath of Hector's demise gets more attention, and generally speaking everything is better thought out. Things are made a little more intense--more detailed, more adult, more grim (although often in subtle ways). And, dealing with a common criticism of the first version, the text is subdivided for easy reading.

I've prepared a PDF file (zipped). It has a cover and two illustrations, one at the end of the novel and the second at the start of the appended short story, The Sprouting of Don Copal. I think it would be nice if it were hosted by one or more GF sites but of course that's up to the webmasters. For at least now, if you want the new version, just click here: Grim Fandango, 2nd Edition. It should start downloading immediately.

Oh, and I've put a short GF-related detective story up over at The DOD site. Enjoy. Or not.

Awesome! The first version was already a masterpiece, so I can't wait to see what you've done differently this time around. I remember being very impressed by how well you captured the characters' speech patterns and how you organised the events in the game into a tight chronological order.

I don't know when I'll have the time to read the new version, but you can expect more comments from me when I'm done.

"Oho, my sainted aunt, have I become a victim of brain fever, the curse of academia...?" -- Jonathan Crane

This is kind of annoying: I stumbled across a torrent for the novel using a private tracker. I can't object to the torrent itself, of course, but I don't like it being used as a means to harvest email addresses. Nothing can be done about it, I suppose.

A more positive thing: I'm thinking of making a proper ebook version of the novel, using the epub format, with proper 'chapter' divisions and everything. Of course, the pdf version can be converted and uploaded to a device but it looks like crap. So far I'm just trying to figure out the best way to go about it without making too much unnecessary work for myself.